Flexible and extensible building wall constructions



H. J. CAREW Nov. 9, 1965 FLEXIBLE AND EXTENSIBLE BUILDING WALL CONSTRUCTIONS Filed April 8, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR HOWARD J. CAREW BY W W ATTORNEY Nov. 9, 1965 c w 3,216,156

FLEXIBLE AND EXTENSIBLE BUILDING WALL CONSTRUCTIONS Filed April 8, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I i g ii I:

l I M i "1 1H 1|| I i; 9 i I i M I n H 12 u /l4 2 (i "T 13 INVENTOR HOWARD J. OAREW ATTORNEY INVENTOR 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 HOWARD J CAREW ATTORNEY Ill VIII,

H. J. CAREW Nov. 9, 1965 FLEXIBLE AND EXTENSIBLE BUILDING WALL CONSTRUCTIONS Filed April 8, 1963 United States Patent 3,216,156 FLEXIBLE AND EXTENSIBLE BUILDHNG WALL CONSTRUCTIONS Howard J. Carew, Carew Steel (10., York, Pa. Filed Apr. 8, 1963, Ser. No. 271,364 2 Claims. (Cl. 52-94) This invention relates to building constructions. Its object is to provide a building having flexible and extensible walls; flexible in the sense that their characteristics such as appearance, insulation, light passing capabilities, and passageways therethrough may be easily and quickly changed and extensible in the sense that buildings having walls of this nature may have their overall dimensions, such as length and breadth, changed at very small cost. Basic to this statement is the ease of recovery of all components of the wall sections from below grade to and including the fascia at eave line.

Such recovery without impairment either in appearance or structural integrity permits reuse of all components in the new location resulting from expansion of the structure either in width or in length of an entire wall or any portion thereof.

Broadly stated, the invention contemplates the provision of a building in which vertical columns are carried by novel foundation elements, said columns receiving between them the flexible wall-forming sections, said sections in turn comprising easily removable panels, for which other panels may be substituted. Such substituted panels may differ from those for which they are substituted in such respects as light passing construction, insulation, ornamentation and the like, with the end result that the several panels and the wall sections may be readily changed with respect to both function and appearance.

The manner in which these objects are attained and other advantages of the invention will be more readily understood after consideration of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view through a typical wall, constructed in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view, showing a plurality of the spaced supporting columns, with the spaces therebetween closed by the removable wall sections.

FIG. 3 is a front face view of one of the Wall sections, hereinafter described.

FIG. 4 is a face view of one of the concrete wall panels which may be used in the construction of the complete wall sections as hereinafter described.

FIG. 5 is a transverse sectional view on line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the frame of the removable metal wall panel which forms part of the construction of the wall section.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged vertical section on line 7-7 of FIG. 3 through the metal wall panel.

FIGURES 8 and 8A are detailed cross sectional views showing two means of securing the column to the wall section.

FIG. 9 is a horizontal section through the removable wall panel taken on line 9-9 of FIG. 3, and

FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal section on line 1010 of FIG. 7.

The flexible and extensible wall features made possible by the provision of the removable wall sections and the removable panels are capable of use in many types of building construction and may be supported upon varying types of foundations. However, it is particularly adapted for use in conjunction with the foundation features shown in my copending application Serial Number 266,908, filed Mar. 21, 1963.

In the present application a plurality of vertical columns 5 are shown disposed in a row in FIG. 2. These columns may differ Widely in shape, in cross section and material but are here shown as being of H shape. As in my aforesaid application, the lower ends of these columns are supported upon plates 6, which plates are leveled by and supported upon grouting 7 upon the top faces of footings 8. These footings are spaced along the line of a foundation at the points of the column locations. They are formed by pouring concrete into dug holes around reinforcing rods 9 and anchor bolts 10. In my aforesaid foundation application the walls of the building were composed of elongated concrete panels, the lowermost of which rested upon projecting ledges of the leveled plates, said panels being in such number as to form a wall of any desired height. In the present application the walls of the building are made up of sections, as shown in FIG. 3, which are disposed between adjacent columns. These sections may include structural elements of many kinds such as the elongated concrete panels 11, which are superimposed upon each other; are preferably tongue and grooved together at their confronting upper and lower edges 12 and are also preferably pre-stressed by the embedding therein of cables 13, which cables are, while under high tension, embedded in the panels when said panels are cast. Reinforcing grills 14 of steel rods may also be embedded in the panels when the panels are cast (FIG. 4).

Adjacent wall forming sections abut at the column faces with the lowermost panels resting upon any suitable foundation element such as the projecting ledges 15 of the plates 6.

While the removable wall forming sections may be made up of many different materials, combined in many ways, the form which I have chosen for this disclosure comprises that shown in FIG. 1 where a plurality of the horizontally disposed concrete panels 11 are disposed in superimposed relation, to a desired height, leaving a space above the topmost panel 11 to be filled with the metal panel 16 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The upper edge of this metal panel and its supporting stiffening structure comprising a retaining strip 38 is received within a recess 16 formed behind the depending lip 17 of a preformed concrete fascia 18, FIG. 1. Any suitable form of roof, such as layers of waterproof material 19, body of insulating material 20, and metal roof deck 21 may be supported upon the top chord member 22 of a clearspan truss, braces 23 extending from said chord to a lower chord member 24. This lower member 24 extends to an angle 25 that is carried by the columns. An end plate 26 lies in spaced relation to lip 17 of the fascia and with said lip creates the space 16 within which the top edge of the metal panel is received.

The metal panels 25 may be made of varying kinds of material but each is shown as an assemblage of a formed outer plate or skin 27 and supporting structural members. These supporting members include upper and lower portions 28, 28 of channel shape in cross section and of such width as to cause the finished metal panel to be approximately the width of the topmost concrete panel 11 The bottom edge of the channel shaped portion 28* rests upon the top edge of top concrete panel 11 with the metal plate or skin 27 extending slightly below the upper edge of concrete panel 11 After the parts are brought to assembled position, retaining plates 29 are secured to the rear face of the lower channel 28 which plates extend below the top edge of concrete panel 11 and thus outward movement of the lower portion of the metal panel is prevented; inward movement being prevented by the downward projection of the lower edge of plate 27 at 27 beyond the upper edge of concrete panel 11 (FIG. 7).

With the parts assembled, as described and with the side edges of the wall sections abutting each other at the faces of the respective columns, a structure such as shown in FIG. 8 may be employed to bind the wall sections to the outer faces of the columns. Here T-shaped strips 31 are shown in such position that their shank portions 30 extend inwardly to abut the column face and their head portions 31 overlap the outer faces of the concrete panels 11, at the confronting sides of the separate sections of which the side walls of the building are formed and of the metal panels FIG. 7. Mastic is employed at abutting surfaces as is necessary to create weathertightness.

The width or the length of a building, constructed as described may be easily increased by merely digging additional holes in the ground and installing more columns with their footings.

Thus, entire wall sections consisting of concrete panels, metal panels and composite fascia may be removed from their existing positions and relocated in the new outer wall perimeter of the enlarged building.

To assist in placing the metal panels in place, lifting holes 33 may be formed through the top stiffening members 28 of the metal panels.

These metal panels are prefabricated at the factory with their members united by welding or other means. They may be varied in number to comprise a greater or lesser part of the area of the whole wall section, to whatever degree may be desired. They may be opaque or they may be made light passing by the use of plastic or glass. They may be uninsulated (as shown) or have insulation factory installed to meet the heat loss requirements of the owner.

It should be understood that the removable panels whether concrete or metal may be widely varied to suit the requirements of the builder. For example, a section may carry doors, windows, louvres or any other wellknown building features to permit entrance to or egress from the building and otherwise to meet functional and appearance requirements.

The retaining T-shaped members 31 of FIG. 8 extend vertically throughout the height of the sections, with their heads 31 overlapping the confronting ends of the concrete panels. Plates 29 (FIGS. 7 and are carried by the longitudinal channels 28, 28* (FIG. 7) which constitute the upper and lower runs of the removable panels and overlap the uppermost concrete panel.

In FIG. 8A there is shown an alternate form of retaining means for the panels. In this figure, clips 36 overlap the front flanges of the vertical columns and bolts 37 which pass through said clips into the panels, draw the panels 11 tightly against the front faces of the columns. This is a conventional type of fastening. The retaining strips also overlap the outer end portions of the metal panel.

Plates 29 function as described. The downward projection of corrugated plate 27 below the top of the upper concrete panel insures a waterproof structure at that point, and also prevents inward movement of the metal panel.

The metal panel or concrete panels are not removable without removing the fascia 18 if the T-shaped strip of FIG. 8 is used. However, by using the alternate securing means of FIG. 8A the panels may be removed withoutremoving the fascia.

Since buildings in general vary so widely in design and in the purposes for which they are used, it follows that many changes in specific construction must be made to fit the particular conditions under which the invention may be used. Therefore, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise constructions or materials set forth, but that it includes within its purview what ever changes fairly fall within either the terms or the spirit or the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A flexible wall construction for readily extensible buildings comprising in combination a plurality of vertical columns, a row of aligned and spaced individual footers, a leveled plate, a set grouting between each leveled plate and its footer, the lower ends of said columns res-ting upon said leveled plates, a truss supported from said columns, a roof supported upon said truss, which roof includes a reinforced fascia element having a depending lip, said truss carrying an end member spaced from the fascia to leave a space between the inner face of said lip and said end member to accommodate a wall panel, and a plurality of removable wall sections filling the space between a pair of the columns, the vertical sides of the sections overlapping the front faces of the columns and being secured thereto said wall sections each comprising a plurality of reinforced, horizonal panels superimposed edge to edge thereby constituting the lower portion of the wall section and a panel of lighter weight material above the horizontal panels of a height to extend to and form the top edge of said. wall section, which top edge is dimensioned to be and is received within the space behind the depending lip of the fascia, the outer ends of the lowermost horizontal panel resting and being wholly supported from the leveled plates.

2. A structure as recited in claim 1 in which the panel of lighter weight consists of a sheet-like outer metal member, and reinforcing members upon the inner face of the sheet-like member of a width to make said upper panel of substantially the thickness of the wall presented by the lower horizontal panels, and means for locking and holding the upper panel in vertical alignment with the lower horizontal panels.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,375,788 4/21 Frischmann 52-91 1,761,289 6/30 Beale 52-91 1,764,001 6/30 Blanchard 52-206 1,781,794 11/30 Tappan 52-489 2,019,230 10/35 Lyon 52-464 2,162,872 6/39 White 52-432 2,177,264 10/ 39 Relihan 52-432 2,282,452 5/42 Brown 52-742 2,411,651 11/46 Darby 52-82 2,592,634 4/52 Wilson 52-583 2,850,892 9/58 Stump 52-223 2,883,852 4/59 Midby 52-236 FOREIGN PATENTS 950,296 10/56 Germany. 828,673 2/ 60 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES American Building, December 1957, pages 162-163. Architectural Forum, August 1943, page 98.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, CHARLES E. OCON- NELL, Examiners. 

1. A FLEXIBLE WALL CONSTRUCTION FOR READILY EXTENSIBLE BUILDINGS COMPRISING IN COMBINATION A PLURALITY OF VERTICAL COLUMNS, A ROW OF ALIGNED AND SPACED INDIVIDUAL FOTTERS, A LEVELED PLATE, A SET GROUTING BETWEEN EACH LEVELED PLATE AND ITS FOTTER, THE LOWER ENDS OF SAID COLUMNS RESTING UPON SAID LEVELED PLATES, A TRUSS SUPPORTED FROM SAID COLUMNS, A ROOF SUPPORTED UPON SAID TRUSS, WHICH ROOF INCLUDES A REINFORCED FASCIA ELEMENT HAVING A DEPENDING LIP, SAID TRUSS CARRYING AN END MEMBER SPACED FROM THE FASCIA TO LEAVE A SPACE BETWEEN THE INNER FACE OF SAID LIP AND SAID END MEMBER TO ACCOMMODATE A WALL PANEL, AND A PLURALITY OF REMOVABLE WALL SECTIONS FILLING THE SPACE BETWEEN A PAIR OF THE COLUMNS, THE VERTICAL SIDES OF THE SECTIONS OVERLAPPING THE FRONT FACES OF THE COLUMNS AND BEING SECURED THERETO SAID WALL SECTIONS EACH COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF REINFORCED, HORIZONTAL PANELS SUPERIMPOSED EDGE TO EDGE THEREBY CONSTITUTING THE LOWER PORTION OF THE WALL SECTION AND A PANEL OF LIGHTER WEIGHT MATERIAL ABOVE THE HORIZONTAL PANELS OF HEIGHT TO EXTEND TO AND FORM THE TOP EDGE OF SAID WALL SECTION, WHICH TOP EDGE IS DIMENSIONED TO BE AND IS RECEIVED WITHIN THE SPACE BEHIND THE DEPENDING LIP OF THE FASCIA, THE OUTER ENDS OF THE LOWERMOST HORIZONTAL PANEL RESTING AND BEING WHOLLY SUPPORTED FROM THE LEVELED PLATES. 